Spotlights

Enhancing Education through the Arts

The Artist Residency in Schools (AIR) grant program brings the resources and skills of teaching artists to the educational process. AIR grants help support three to 60 day single or collaborative artist residencies in a variety of arts disciplines in schools and other educational settings. These grants provide opportunities for creative learning and skills development in the arts; engage students as active learners in the creative process; prepare students for careers in creative fields in the 21st century; and support the state’s Curriculum Frameworks for the Arts and the National Standards for the Arts. AIR grants also encourage partnerships with community organizations that support artist residency projects.

Artist in Residence grant to Holderness Central School
Holderness Central School [K through 8] has a very active and well respected arts program. Over the years, they have received a number of AIR grants to carry out their school-wide arts projects. The school’s most recent project was a collaborative effort with the Town of Holderness to produce a play entitled “Holderness 250,” in honor of the 250th anniversary of the town’s incorporation. The project was the culminating event of a year filled with community and school activities. Holderness Central School faculty, along with New Hampshire Arts in Education roster artists Randy Armstrong, Emile Birch, Blair Hundertmark, and Genevieve Aichele, created an original theatrical performance driven by student creative input. 

Parents, friends and community members were on hand for the presentation of a dynamic performance that traced the settlement of the town to its current state, through the eyes of community leaders through the years and a “would –be” developer whose efforts stood to diminish the town’s historic, cultural and natural character.

The School received a Preservation Achievement Award from the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance for the project in 2012. For more information on Artist Residency grants contact Arts Education & Arts in Health Care Coordinator Catherine O’Brian.

Last updated: July 26, 2012